


If You're With Me

by LyriaBlackFrost



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Confessions, Fluff, Happens during the end of KH2, M/M, They mostly talk about feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 05:09:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14348619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyriaBlackFrost/pseuds/LyriaBlackFrost
Summary: If they were both destined to be part of the darkness for their friends’ sake, then Riku decided that, at least, he wanted Sora to know how he felt.





	If You're With Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a simple fic I wrote because the SoRiku feels came back with full strength and I needed some cuteness to deal with it. I hope you enjoy!

The battle had come to an end. However, even with their achieved victory, there they were, Sora and Riku, trapped in that dark world, far from all of their friends, without any possibility of leaving that place.

The moon was shining, far, far away, the sound of the waves echoed around them. That world was nothing but pure darkness...

And, still, it was beautiful.

“Sora...” said Riku suddenly, not looking at his friend’s face, seeming deep in thought. “What I’m going to say will sound a little... strange, I think.”

“More than usual?” asked Sora, arching his eyebrow with an amused expression.

Riku gave him a brief smile.

“The truth is...” he hesitated for a second. “I am happy now.”

Sora looked at him, in silence. Riku continued:

“I know I shouldn’t,” he closed his eyes “We both are here, far from everyone we know and from the world where we grew up. It should be something terrible to me, but… It isn’t.

“Really?” asked Sora.

Riku confirmed with his head, and then looked at Sora through the corner of his eyes.

“You want to know the reason?” he asked.

Sora stared at him with curiosity, waiting for the answer. Riku looked away again, to the moon far away.

“Because you’re with me,” he said. “Because we’re together.”

A long silence followed his words, broken only by the familiar sound of the waves. Sora, after looking at Riku for a while, smiled, also looking to the moon, just like him. He thought about those words, and how meaningful they were.

“Since we’ve been separated,” Sora started to say in a calm voice, getting Riku’s attention, “I’ve searched for you everywhere. I even came to think that we would never see each other again, and... When I thought about it, I didn’t know what to do. I don’t think I had ever realized how important you were to me until that moment, Riku.”

Riku wanted to say something, but Sora continued:

“That’s why, when we met again, I…” Sora lowered his eyes. “I think I’ve never been so happy in my whole life. Strange, isn’t it? Even if we were in the middle of a battle to the death, I was happy… Because you were there, with me.”

Sora looked at Riku, offering a bright smile to his partner.

“And now too,” he completed. “I’m happy.”

Riku stared at him for a while, not knowing what to say, and then, limited himself to smile back.

“You’re really strange, Sora...” he said.

“Oh, shut up, you jerk!” Sora hit him in the ribs with his elbow.

They laughed. Not just a little, but a burst of loud laugh. Again, maybe there wasn’t a reason for that, but they both felt light, in peace. As if, even if they were so far from their world, they were home by being together.

When the laughs finally stopped, both boys closed their eyes, feeling the nice cold breeze from that world caressing their faces. If it wasn’t for the lack of the sounds of kids playing, or the smell of the Paopu fruits, it would be even possible to imagine they were back in Destiny Islands, planning their escape on a raft...

“Hey, Sora...”

Riku’s voice made Sora open his eyes. Riku, however, still had his eyes closed.

“If I tell you something,” he continued, “you promise you won’t get mad?”

Sora furrowed his brow, wondering when Riku became that cautious.

“Why would I get mad?” he asked. “Just say it already.”

Riku laughed to himself. Of course Sora, not knowing what he was talking about, would consider that question nonsensical... But, on the other hand, even after all of that, everything he had done, Sora still forgave him, and still called him his friend. He took a deep breath, struggling to keep his calm expression when he said:

“I want to kiss you.”

It was as if Sora’s heart had made a flip in his chest. He almost thought he had heard that wrong, but Riku’s words had been clear enough, and there was nothing in that silent place that could have make him understand it all wrong.

Riku wanted to kiss him... Yes, that was it. And, for as strange as it could be, he didn’t hate the idea. He looked at Riku, who had a calm expression, but when Sora looked down at his hands, he noticed that they were clenched in fists, which made obvious the anxiety he was feeling after saying such thing. He looked back at his friend’s face, this time to his lips — the lips of another boy —, and asked himself if it would be that strange to kiss them.

And, even if it was, why should he care?

That world was theirs, and no one else’s...

“Sora...?” called Riku, sounding a little hesitant, opening his eyes, looking at his friend. “Say something, or…”

Before he could finish, Sora got closer to him, covering Riku’s lips with his. It wasn’t for more than two seconds, though, because in the next moment, Riku got away from Sora, staring at him with widened eyes.

“What are you doing?” he questioned while holding his friend’s shoulders.

“You said you wanted to kiss me...” answered Sora, like it was something obvious.

“Yeah, I know… But it doesn’t mean that…”

“And I kind of wanted it too, so I did it.”

Riku stopped talking, feeling confused. Sora laughed internally, amused by that rare expression. A few instants later, Riku became more serious and looked into Sora’s eyes.

“Do you even understand what this means?” He asked “I...”

He sighed, letting go of Sora’s shoulders, getting a little farther from him. It couldn’t be helped: when you hide something for years, it’s hard to turn it into words all of a sudden.

“Riku...?” Sora called him, feeling worried about that strange reaction.

Riku took a deep breath, gathering all of his courage.

“I didn’t want to just kiss you,” he tried to explain. “The truth is, I…” It was now or never. “I like you, Sora. I’ve always liked you. More than as a friend… In a way I probably shouldn’t.”

“What?” Sora was astounded “But… Kairi… I’ve always thought you liked her! You… You were always trying to get her attention, and all!”

Riku curved the corner of his lips in a slightly bitter smile.

“It’s true, I tried to get her attention,” he admitted, “but it was because I didn’t want her to get too close to you.” He laughed without humor. “I know, I’m a jerk… I knew you liked her, but I didn’t want you to end up together, because I was so damn jealous of you.”

Sora let his chin fall, stunned by that sudden confession.

“I…” he started to say. “I had no idea…”

“Now you know,” said Riku, forcing a small laugh. “Don’t get me wrong, Kairi is like a sister to me, but I couldn’t accept the idea of seeing you two together. I didn’t want to lose you to her, even if I knew that you’d never feel the same way I did.”

Sora thought about all of that for a while, still trying to put all of those pieces together. When Riku’s words made more sense in his mind, however, he felt and a twinge of irritation hurt his chest.

“Why did you never tell me?” he asked.

Riku stared at him in disbelief.

“Are you serious?” he said. “What would you think if your best friend confessed to you all of a sudden? Are you going to say that you wouldn’t get away from me? Or, at least, that things wouldn’t be different between us?

Sora wanted to deny that, but stopped himself. He hated to admit it, but Riku was right: years ago, the idea of having another guy in love with him would’ve sounded gross and strange, even if said boy was his best friend — especially if it was his best friend.

But now…

“So…” Said Sora, in a low voice. “Why are you telling me now? Why now, after so much time?”

“I don’t know, I think I lost some of the fear I used to have… Or maybe it’s because we’re close together again, after all this time…” He thought for a while, and then shook his head. “I really don’t know. I only felt that… I should.”

Sora repeated those words in his head. The fact that his best friend had been in love with him for years made something hurt inside him. Maybe, during his countless efforts to conquer Kairi’s heart, he had hurt Riku, instead? No doubts. He wanted to go back in time, tell Riku that he was sorry, tell his best friend that he was the most important person in his whole existence, more than anyone else.

But he knew it was useless… He couldn’t change the past, only the future.

“I liked Kairi,” said Sora. “Or, at least, I thought I did. It made sense: she’s a girl, she’s cute and funny…”

“That’s what I’m saying.” Riku let out an irritated sigh. “Of course you’d like her.”

“No, what I mean is, I thought it would be right to like her...”

“That’s why I regret meddling, and...”

“Riku, stop being a knucklehead and listen!” Sora interrupted, grabbing the front of Riku’s shirt, annoyed.

Shocked by the reaction and the loud voice of his friend, Riku got silent. Without letting go of his shirt, Sora continued:

“When I got separated from you and Kairi, I missed you both, but… It was different!” he said. “I missed her a lot, just like I missed my parents, or my other friends… But you were different! Every time I thought about you, it was like something inside me was missing!” His voice got louder, and tears began to form in the corners of his eyes. “Every time I thought that I would never see you again, I panicked! Do you have any idea of how hard it was to pretend everything was fine until now? Do you even know how much I’ve missed you? Do you know how much I longed to see you again?

Sora stopped talking, breathing fast. He looked down, finally letting go of Riku’s shirt. His mind was a mess, but, at the same time, it was like so many things finally started to make sense. He felt Riku’s gaze upon him, but didn’t look at his friend.

“I wasn’t thinking about Kairi…” he muttered. “I was thinking about you.”

“Sora...”

Riku approached Sora, and, with care, pulled him close, until his head was leaning against Riku’s chest. This made Sora’s resolve to stop his own tears dissolve, and he began to cry. Riku held him, and caressed his hair in a gesture of affection and comfort. It made Riku remember of when they were kids… It had always been like this. Sora would fall and hurt himself, get scolded by his mom, or even fight with a friend and get upset… And then, he would always come to Riku. Always.

Riku felt a smile forming on his lips. A soft, warm sensation grew in his chest, and this time, instead of stopping it, he just let it take him whole. He waited a few minutes, until Sora had calmed down a little, and then he asked what he so much wanted to know:

“Do you like me?” Then, he corrected himself. “Do you… Love me?”

“I don’t know…” answered Sora, being honest. “I just know that I like you more than anyone else… I like you so much, you jerk…”

“It’s ok,” said Riku, with a smile. “It’s ok, I understand.”

Riku hugged Sora with a little more strength. Neither of them moved or said anything for a long while, just feeling the familiar and comforting warmth of each other, getting used again to being together, after what seemed to be an eternity of separation.

“I love you,” muttered Riku.

And Sora didn’t doubt that. Those words didn’t cause him discomfort, or any other negative emotion: they were soft, gentle and true.

“ _Just like him,”_ he thought, smiling with affection.

They moved away, just enough so they could look at each other.

“So… Is it alright if I kiss you?” asked Riku, sounding a little embarrassed.

Sora thought it was a strange question, since they had basically just confessed their feelings to each other. But it was also just like Riku… Always worrying too much.

“Ah… Sure?”

But Riku took his time, looking at his face for a few seconds, touching Sora’s lips with his fingers and caressing his cheek before getting closer. Their lips touched, and this time, after a few seconds, Riku opened his mouth a little, and Sora imitated him. His tongue slipped to Sora’s lip, surprising him a little. The kiss was clumsy, thanks to the lack of experience of both parts, but they didn’t care about it. They kept enjoying that new experience, pulling away only for a few moments, when they were almost out of breath. When they finally let go of each other, their eyes met, in a meaningful silence.

“This was…” said Riku after a few seconds, sounding lost in thoughts. “Interesting.”

Sora frowned a little.

“Interesting…?”

“Ah, I mean…” noticing his weird way of saying it, he was quick to try and correct it. “Good, it was good.”

“Good?”

Sora narrowed his eyes in disbelief. Riku felt his face burn, embarrassed by his own awkward words.

“I mean…”

Sora snorted, unable to keep that up, as fun as it could be.

“I get it, I get it…” he said. “I’m just messing with you!”

Riku watched as Sora laughed, clearly amused by his embarrassment. He could complain if he wanted to, but, honestly, he was too happy for that. Placing his arms around Sora’s shoulders, he brought his old friend — and now, maybe, lover — close to him.

“You never change…” he said.

Sora showed him a bright smile.

“Nor do you.”

They lay beside each other, looking at that dark sky, while enjoying each other’s warmth. When Sora, already feeling sleepy, thought that, if he had to spend the eternity in that empty world, he was happy to have Riku beside him, he realized that just couldn’t be just a small feeling.

And that, if it wasn’t love, then it could only be something way, way stronger.

 

* * *

 

When Sora woke up, Riku was beside him, looking at something he had in his hand.

“Riku...?” Sora called him, a little confused.

Riku looked at him, and his expression turned into a smile.

“Sora,” he said, offering what seemed to be a small glass bottle to him. “I think this is for you.”

 

* * *

 

The door of light had opened. They weren’t prisoners of that dark world anymore. Now they would finally be able to go back home.

Sora looked at Riku, offering his hand.

“You’re coming with me, right?”

Riku knew: that wasn’t actually a question.

“Yes,” he said, smiling as he held Sora’s hand.

Even if he wanted to, he would never be able to go back alone to the darkness. Even if he wanted to, he would never be able to let go of Sora’s hand. Light or darkness, it didn’t matter, as long as they had each other.

And now, it was clear for both: they would always have.


End file.
